Jane Austen, Fanny, Emma, Elizabeth Bennet, and Me

Posted by on Jan 28, 2013 in dish | 0 comments Today marks the 200th anniversary of the publication of Pride and Prejudice. Originally titled First Impressions, it was the first manuscript Jane Austen wrote, but not the first to be published; the first edition title page reads “by the author of Sense and Sensibility.” When I was in college, my fabulous advisor, the inimitable Dr. Jim Skinner, was the departmental expert in all...
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I’ll Make Me a World

Posted by on Jan 24, 2013 in dish | 0 comments One of my father’s favorite books is James Weldon Johnson’s poetry collection God’s Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse. The whole collection is gorgeous, a tour-de-force of imagery, theology, and culture. Johnson is better known for “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” adopted by the NAACP as the “Negro National Anthem,” but Daddy’s favorite and...
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Thirteen for ’13

Posted by on Jan 1, 2013 in dish | 0 comments Fresh starts are always so enticing, like the smooth surface of a brand new jar of peanut butter (or better yet, Nutella). There’s something so peaceful and calming about them, and yet you know that you can’t get to the good stuff until you dig in and get messy. So it’s in that vein that I submit this list of things I’d like to accomplish in 2013. Establish an...
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Digging for the Pony

Posted by on Feb 23, 2012 in dish | 0 comments Most of us have heard the story about the man who wanted to teach an optimist a lesson. He’d finally had enough of the optimist’s good nature, sunny outlook, and buoyant spirit. Frankly, the optimist bugged the living daylights out of him. So, he filled the optimist’s room with manure. Instead of freaking out (as most people would), the optimist grabbed a shovel and got to...
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Fifteen Cool Authors

Posted by on Jan 20, 2012 in dish | 0 comments I don’t know how I missed this game on Facebook, but thanks to a Jaunty Quills post from my dear friend Nancy Robards Thompson, I’m stealing it. The Rules: list fifteen authors (poets included) who have influenced you and made an impression. Don’t take too long to think about it. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes. Dr. Seuss – This man...
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